Snowflakes
by punystrumpet
Summary: We are all unique, just like snowflakes. Some of us, however, are more unique than others. Again just like snowflakes. This is a fact Elsa knows intimately, and a young blond genin is about to learn that fact as well. This particular snowflake will go down in history, Elsa will make sure of that.
1. where a hero takes part in an experiment

'_damn, shit, fuck, im an idiot, why did I think this was a good idea? Should have taken the other path, crap, GAH! THAT HURT DAMNIT! Seriously why did I think this was a good idea?'_

I groaned as I was manhandled through the weird airship-thing that I had, in a stroke of utter _genius_, infiltrated to try and save that stupid woman. Not long after boarding, however, I had decided that sneaking was overrated, as I was Uzumaki Naruto ninja supreme! This turned into a spectacularly bad decision as after just a couple minutes walking through the hallways I encountered one of those weird snow ninja dicks, with their fancy chakra armour. Man I hate it when people cheat like that, but I took satisfaction that they had to rely on such cheap tactics to defeat the mighty Uzumaki Naruto! There was _no way_ they would have beaten me otherwise, of course.

Well now here I am, being frog-marched to the front of this airship, most likely to see head asshole Doto, and I didn't even get to see princess Fuki like I was supposed to find in the first place. God I am starting to hate this country.

After being manhandled for another couple of hallways, me and my guards ('_my guards and _I' I told myself, not wanting to suffer one of Sakura's punches if she should find out my "butchering of our native tongue") finally reached a larger than normal doorway, which opened up to a large viewing platform with head asshat and his second in command, Nadare somethingsomething if I remembered correctly.

"Ahh, so here is our uninvited guest" came from the smug face of the head honcho himself, followed by snickers from his followers all over the viewing platform

"I heard you put up quite the fight, young man, almost managed to scratch one of my guards when they found you!"

Wow. What a condescending dick. I would have totally beaten up those guards if they didn't have those fancy armor vest thingies.

"Heh, what an angry look, I think you made him angry Doto-sama" Nadare this time. "Although it's not like he could do anything anyways, im surprised such a pathetic excuse for a ninja actually got past the graduation exams."

"Alright, that's it. Let me go and I'll show you how pathetic my skills are Mr. Snowman!" burst out of me. Not the most creative comeback, but it's not like I had much time to prepare for this meeting.

More snickers passed around the room, with the target of my anger just looking amused

"Oh I'm _sure_ you would, but unfortunately that's not how things work, generally prisoners aren't just 'let go' especially ones who volunteer for experiments! How would you like to be part of an experiment?"

I narrowed my eyes even more than they already were. Experiment? Volunteering? What? I don't remember volunteering for any experiment? Although I hear prisoners are sometimes experime-oh... _Oh_... not good. Not good at all.

Fortunately, Doto seemed to be confused as I was, but for a different reason. "Experiment Nadare? Have you gotten another one of your ideas?" a shrug was his answer, followed by a more verbal one "well, our chakra negator device needs some more fine-tuning, and someone with that much chakra would be an excellent tester, might allow us to see if there is an upper limit on the device"

Well _that_ didn't sound fun, good thing that Doto seemed to have other ideas

"I don't think so Nadare, there are always easier ways to deal with problems, I would rather use this one as... an example, if you would"

An example? An example of what?

Suddenly Doto was a lot closer than I would have liked, and I felt a crushing grip on the back of my neck as I was dragged to one of the edges of the viewing platform. Huh, this thing was a lot higher than it was when I got on.

"Tell me boy, have you ever flown before?" I blinked in confusion "flown? Pretty sure humans can't fly, pal." Was he stupid? How the hell would humans _fly_? Then he grinned, and I felt a sinking feeling settle in my stomach

"Well then, looks like you will be part of an experiment after all!" a large, armored fist suddenly whooshed past my head, smashing the glass window we were in front of into tiny pieces, and suddenly everything clicked in my head. Pretty sure I could be mistaken for a ghost if someone were to see me I was so pale.

"Experiment number one: testing if shinobi are better at flying than civilians, don't worry little genin, this is for science after all." Was the last thing I heard before the hand which was still attached to my neck gave me a rough shove and I was falling. Well, that and what seemed to be laughter coming from Nadare and the other cronies, which was quickly replaced by the rushing of wind and were those screams? Oh god, I was screaming. How unmanly, but I'm pretty sure it could be excused this one time, seeing as I was currently falling to the cold, hard ground really _really_ fast. Was this really how the super-awesome ninja supreme Uzumaki Naruto dies? Beaten by the _ground_ of all things?! Well no, I had to tell myself, seeing as I was falling towards a lake or river of some sort; it would be beaten by water.

A last thought crossed my mind right before I hit the water, which was something along the lines of 'I wonder if this will be a softer landing because I'm about to hit water?'

It wasn't. It really, really wasn't.

X.x.X.

Sasuke sighed as he gazed up at the massive fortress that housed Doto, Princess Fuki and hopefully Naruto. After the idiot somehow snuck into that airship they had not seen hide nor hair of him, so they had to assume he failed as always, and that he was captured and was now somewhere in that ludicrously large fortress. Another sigh passed his lips as he contemplated how on earth they were going to find three separate people in that thing, it looked like one could get lost, starve to death, then totally decompose before someone stumbled upon the remains.

"You okay there Sasuke-chan? You seem awfully talkative, with all that noise you're making over there." Came his sensei's amused, slightly mocking tone. God, he really hated Kakashi sometimes. Normally it was not that bad when Naruto was around as he tended to draw all of his teachers sarcastic remarks to himself, but times like this when Naruto was nowhere to be seen and with Sakura being awfully quiet due to Naruto's disappearance it seemed he was the favored target.

"Well, no time like the present kiddies, need to go over the plan again, or do you remember it?" "No need sensei" a hasty reply from Sakura, while Sasuke just gave Kakashi a deadpan stare; they had only gone over the plan like eight times already after all. While Kakashi's mannerisms left much to be desired, the man was a damned good shinobi and teacher, which meant he made sure to cover every base conceivable, which included everyone being on the same page.

"Well then, let's get on with it"

Sasuke sighed one last time as he stretched from his squatting position. And started heading towards the insanely large fortress. No time like the present indeed.

x.X.x.

Elsa couldn't help but smile as she took her morning stroll along the lake a few miles away from Arendelle. The forest was always so calming in the mornings, and Marshmallow's thudding steps never slowed or spend up, giving the journey calm beat to hum and walk to.

The first hint that something is wrong was that those thudding steps which had accompanied her had stopped. As she looked behind her to see what the problem was she saw Marshmallow standing totally still, staring at something in the water. Stepping closer to the lakes edge she noticed something yellow and orange slowly drift down the river, although it was too far away to be seen clearly.

"What is it Marshmallow? Can you see what it is?"

"A child, boy I think"

His reply froze her for a few seconds, before the words fully clicked and she burst into action. Dashing towards the lake, and then over it as she froze a path towards the boy, all the while thanking her lucky stars that she had worn normal boots and not her elegant heels that she preferred as they were not very practical in situations like this. She reached the body after a few seconds of sprinting, and dragged him out of the water, before staring at the condition of the boy. At first she though he might have simply fallen into the river upstream and been dragged here by the current, but looking at him now she knew that was not what had happened.

First of all his clothes were obviously foreign, as dyes of that color were very difficult to come across in these parts. Secondly was his hair color, a blond, but where hers was very light, almost white probably due to her powers, his was a very deep blond reminding her of daisies or sunflowers.

Lastly was the fact that, while she was no healer, she knew that limbs were _not _supposed to look or bend that way. She gathered him up in her arms, surprised at how light he was, and ran back to Marshmallow, who had watched from the lakeside being too big to follow her over the small bridge over the lake she had made

"Quick! Bring him to the Castle, I'll go to Arendelle and get a healer then see if he is registered as missing. Don't stop for anything!"

Marshmallow nodded, and without a word grabbed the child in one of his massive claw-hands, before running into the distance towards the mountains, his massive strides swallowing the distance in moments

Elsa, after watching marshmallow's retreating back for a few more seconds turned and started making her way back in the opposite direction towards the outline of a castle and city on the horizon.

X.x.X

Elsa managed to reach Arendelle just as midday was approaching, and without slowing marched right through the castle courtyards' gates, ignoring the guards who almost forgot to salute. This did not pass unnoticed by bystanders, who immediately knew something was wrong if the normally friendly ex-queen did not even give anyone a second glance. Guessing her intentions, one of the guards of the castle doors slipped into the castle to alert the king, as he doubted Elsa would be in the mood to wait.

"Sir! Lady Elsa is here, she seems to be panicked about something."

These words were enough to silence most conversations in the room instantly, with the rest trailing off into silence a few seconds later. Lady Elsa almost never came to the castle anymore, unless it was a special occasion like a large event, which meant either they had forgotten something important, or something had gone wrong.

The king, who had been in the middle of a discussion with one of the envoys from the southern isles could only manage a half-mumbled "wha-" before the large double doors burst open, with Elsa striding through. Dozens of eyes tracked her form, with anyone in the ay inching to the side to allow her a straight path to the throne on the raise dais at the end of the room.

The king, who was sitting on said throne hastily got to his feet at the sight of the blond haired woman before a small smile appeared on his face. "Aunt Elsa! What a surprise! What are you doing here? How have you been? It's been such a while since you came to visit!"

Elsa paused for when she reached the throne, and managed a strained smile back at the king, who was positively beaming now, before interrupting the flurry of questions asking about her health, and why she hadn't sent a message in so long. "Inge, it has been a while but I'm afraid that this is unfortunately a social call."

King Igne, who was about to ask another question, closed his mouth with a click which seemed to echo around the now dead-silent entrance hall. Elsa, looking around, only then realized that they were not alone and turned back to the king "is there anywhere we can talk? Privately?" she asked him, there was no need to cause a panic by informing all the gossip mongers about the boy, then mentally kicked herself when she realized that being vague and asking to meet the king in private would probably make them seem even more suspicious and worried than talking to him in public, but what was done was done. A small frown appeared on the kings' face as he considered Elsa's unusual request and frazzled tone.

"Certainly Elsa, would you like some tea or coffee while we talk?" She gave a tired nod, smiling gratefully; she _had _just walked a good number of miles at a faster pace she was used to, and some coffee with milk and sugar would be just the thing to steady and rejuvenate herself she thought. King Igne signaled to one of the attendants as he led Elsa to one of the side chambers, and the main hall erupted into whispers, each guessing at the unexpected arrival of the ex-queen.

When Elsa and Igne were sitting comfortably in the side chamber, each holding a steaming mug of coffee with a small try of cakes placed on the table between them Elsa finally thought it was time to say what had brought her here. As she told her story to the man sitting across from her, his face became more and more grave.

"This is troubling Elsa, we have not had any reports of any missing children for months, not since the last winter, especially any reports from any of the envoys. And judging from the state you found the poor boy in I would have to say it was no accident he ended up in the river" At Elsa's disbelieving gaze he continued "Auntie, you should know that no wild animals would inflict that kind of damage. There should be gashes and lacerations if he was attacked by the wolves or bears. You said that he seemed to have many broken bones, but few surface wounds?"

"I know you well enough to know when you have a theory about one thing or another Igne" Elsa replied "Just say what you mean, and stop dancing around the issue" Igne sighed "very well then, the injuries seem to be in line from either a fall from very high up, or..." "...or?" Elsa asked, confused to the reason Igne didn't finish his sentence

"Or someone broke his bones on purpose, then tossed him in the river to try and get rid of the evidence"

For the second time that day, Elsa felt herself freeze and had to check to make sure she hadn't actually frozen. When she tried to take a sip of her coffee to steady her nerves, however, she found that it had turned remarkably solid. This was going to be a long day. And it wasn't even noon yet

x.X.x

Naruto groaned as he slowly woke up, wondering why _everything_ hurt. He was hurting in places he didn't even know existed, and whose existence was probably only to add to his pain. The only good thing was that there was only a dull ache, and no sharp pains, which he credited to either the Kyuubi, or still being in shock. Then he saw his left arm, which for some reason was both twisted on its axis _and _bent at a 90 degree angle at his elbow in the wrong direction slowly fix itself with cracks and grinding noises that made him feel nauseous. So it was Kyuubi then, definitely Kyuubi.

Closing his eyes again, Naruto tried thinking back to what making him hurt this much. The last thing he remembered was taking part in an experiment? Oh yea the flying thing... wait, flying? He took part in a flying experiment? It most likely ended horribly then, seeing as successful experiments probably didn't end up him waking up in unfamiliar places. And he was pretty sure he didn't sign up for any experiments, although he heard that sometimes prisoners would be used for experiments against thei-oh... _Oh_... now he remembered. Huh, looks like he survived that fall. That was unexpected.

He didn't remember getting himself out of the river/lake/body-of-water/whatever so he was obviously rescued. Maybe his team found him! He couldn't help but smile at that thought, which froze at the thought that followed right afterwards. Sasuke and Kakashi were gonna have a field day with this one. Opening his eyes again Naruto looked around where he was he was, to try and see if his team was nearby. Woah. Firs thing is that he could barely see the ceiling, this room was massive. Finally looking at where he was laying he discovered he was on some sort of mattress, covered with thick furs, all on top of a frame that looked like it was made out of... ice? What? Taking a closer look Naruto noticed that, yes, the frame of the bed was definitely made out of ice, and when he looked around the rest of the chamber (calling it a room at this point would be an insult) he noticed that the walls, table, chairs and _everything else_ was made out of ice. And all of this was somehow _not melting_. At the far side of the chamber, opposite the bed Naruto was laying in, was a doorway blocked with two large doors with what seemed to be half a snowflake engraved onto them, so that when they closed they made a full engraving. Pretty cool, in Narutos' humble opinion, but the whole place was made of ice; he didn't need _more _clues as the theme of whole place was. Did the architect really think people were really that stupid? Naruto sighed again, now was not the time to be criticizing peoples design choices damn it!

The more and more Naruto inspected his immediate surroundings, the more and more sure he was that it was not his team who found him, but someone completely different. Maybe even someone from Haku's immediate family due to that persons' obsession with ice. A small chuckle escaped Naruto's lips because of that thought, before sobering up when he remembered what happened to his pseudo-friend. Finally deciding that he was in no immediate danger, Naruto decided to try and get out of the incredibly cozy bed. His body disagreed with him though, as the second he tried to sit up all of his aches and pains returned with a vengeance making him collapse back into the bed, which made his back flare up with pain. He just couldn't win, could he? With this last thought Naruto decided to drift off to sleep again, hopefully the universe would be more compromising when he woke up again.

X.x.X

Elsa frowned as she hurried alongside the royal healer back to her own castle, which thankfully she had moved from North Mountain to a more reasonable location after she had retired as queen. The discussion with her great-nephew Igne had taken a more morbid turn after his comment about how the still nameless boy had gotten in the state he was. While she hoped that that was not the case, it had opened up another possibility as to who he was. The relatively small country of Arendelle had many trade contacts, including the people who lived on the other side of the mountains who called themselves the Land of Snow. It was fairly common knowledge that this Land of Snow regularly employed mercenaries known as 'shinobi', and that the lower ranks often contained children. It was a distasteful practice, but one which was obviously effective as shipments guarded by these shinobi seemed to always arrive exactly on time, even when sailing through pirate infected waters or traveling through bandit infested caravan routes. It was all too possible that the child was a shinobi-in-training who had lost a fight rather badly which ended up with him being thrown in a river upstream, which would have then dragged him through the mountains and into the larger river that flowed past Arendelle and into the ocean. Normally the child would have one of those odd allegiance bands in that case, and while Elsa had not noticed one it would be fairly easy to miss such a small detail in her panic at the boys' state.

The pair finally managed to reach the top of one of the hills which had steadily been getting larger since they left the city, and Elsa's castle came into view. It sat on a ledge which jutted out of the side of a snow capped mountain, overlooking a lush green valley. The castle was only accessible by a small trail winding around the side of the mountain, giving a view that looked like it could have been taken right out of a book of fairy tales. The royal healer, a man who was long past his prime and had a beard that must have been impractically long, but gave him an almost comical look wheezed and coughed while he tried to regain control of his breath. The steep climb and rushed pace had not been kind on his old lungs or legs, and the thinner air also didn't help matters.

"With all due... respect my lady... I still... cannot fathom why... you decide to live... such a distance away, nor why in such a difficult place to get to!" he managed to gasp out, finally managing to regain control of his lungs.

Elsa simply laughed, knowing the old man too well to be anything but amused at his groaning "Don't worry Erik, we are almost there, you can even see the castle now!"

"Yes, well let's get on with it then, hopefully the boy has not succumbed to his injuries yet, they seemed quite severe from what you told me earlier"

Elsa's good mood fled at those words. She had almost forgotten how bad his injuries actually were, and that realistically it would not be too surprising if the boy would not live through the night. Starting down the hill she hoped Marshmallow had been able to get him back alive, he was not the most gentle of beings after all.

x.X.x

Half an hour later Elsa found herself standing next to the bed the blond child was currently occupying being extremely confused. Her guest was currently unconscious, lying on one of the beds reserved for guests, with his orange jacket and the black shirt underneath currently occupying one of the chairs in the room, but that was not what confused her. She could have _sworn_ that the boy's injuries were worse than what they were now, not that she wanted them to be of course. As Erik the healer moved around the boy poking and prodding at places to try and determine the worst of the damage and the best ways to fix that damage, Elsa stood stock-still trying to figure out what had happened. She distinctly remembered the both of the boy's arms being broken, with his left one also twisted and probably having a shattered elbow. But then why was only his right arm pointing in an odd direction, while his left only had what looked to be severe bruising around the elbow? Something odd was going on here, and unless Marshmallow had suddenly became a first class medic, something they had not set in motion themselves.

Elsa was broken out of her musings by Erik's yelp of surprise, as well as him suddenly jumping backwards and stepping on her foot. Suppressing a curse, Elsa turned an icy glare on Erik's back but anything she was about to say died in her throat as she both heard and saw what had startled the healer. With a sickening series of clicks and scrapes part of the child's chest, which had been depressed due to a number of broken ribs suddenly inflated back to its normal shape before the sound subsided and the child continued breathing normally as if nothing had happened.

Erik and Elsa gave each other a wide-eyed glance before the former burst into action poking and prodding at the boy's exposed chest. Elsa almost couldn't believe the old man's next few words.

"It's _healed?!_"

"What do you mean 'It's healed?'?"

"Just as I said, I wouldn't have believed it if I had not seen it myself, but the boy's sternum and associated costal cartilage of the fourth rib have healed. The rib itself has fixed the break that had broken it into two, and then reattached itself back to the now-healed costal cartilage, and from there to the sternum! This is amazing! How did he _do that_?! This should be physically impossible! But think of the _possibilities_! If we can figure out how and why this is happening it could revolutionize the current field of medicine!"

Elsa had stopped listening after Erik had started sprouting his medical gibberish, but managed to understand enough to realize that A) the boy's body was healing itself at a prodigious rate, and B) that this was as far removed from 'normal' as humanly possible. Considering what she had just seen with her own eyes, she doubted human laws applied to the boy anymore, much like herself.

However, this could answer why the boy was in remarkably better shape than the last time she saw him. If this had been happening ever since she had seen him in the river, he would have had at least a good 10 hours to heal at this rate. Now that she thought about it, the bruising surrounding his left elbow seemed to have receded somewhat as well.

She was once again cut from her musings when Erik gave another yelp, this time he was holding the boy's right eye open to examine the child's eyeball. For what reason this was necessary Elsa could not guess but moved closer when Erik looked over his shoulder at her

"Uhhh... you may want to see this mi'lady"

Elsa frowned, that didn't sound too positive. She decided to follow Erik's advice, however, and walked up behind him, only to blink in surprise when she saw what had captured Erik's attention

"Well, _that _is certainly odd. Do you think it has to do with his injuries, or is it just something he was born with?"

"Hard to tell, my lady. His sclera does not have any signs of being bloodshot or any popped veins, so it may simply be natural, but I can't say for sure. Especially considering how... _unique_ the boy is already turning out to be"

Elsa 'hmm'ed at that piece of information, taking one last look at the boy's peculiar eyes. Well, it was certainly unique; she had never seen eyes quite like that before. The way the red outer edges discolored into purple, then finally blue near the pupil not entirely unappealing, but something just felt off about them. As she stepped back, Erik followed her, and motioned her to follow him out of the room. He began speaking once the doors had shut behind them.

"Well, at first I thought that perhaps in your panic you believed that his injuries were worse than they actually were, but after that little display with his ribs, I may have to change that opinion. If he continues healing at the rate he seemed to be healing at during the examination, he should be walking around again in under a week, but again I cannot say for certain. It all depends on if his body is able to keep up its remarkable ability to fix itself at that rate."

"Is there anything you can say for sure?"

"Only that when the child wakes up, he will be very, very stiff. And probably aching all over the place too. Try to keep him in bed if he wakes up, and send a message the _second_ you think he will be waking up. I want to be there when it happens, I could probably write a book about all the things this boy could change in the field of medicine!"

Elsa couldn't stop the small laugh escaping her. Erik always got so excitable when faced with a mystery, even in his old age. A quick glance through one of the windows in the hallway showed that it was probably only a couple of hours until dusk, and it was a long walk back to Arendelle. Especially if you were becoming old and frail.

With this thought Elsa turned back to Erik.

"Would you like to spend the night here? It's getting late, and the journey back will only be harder if you have to do so at night. Not to mention it would be nice to have someone over for dinner again, it's been a while after all."

Erik stared at Elsa for a couple of seconds, before a grin looked like it would split his face in two. "I would be most grateful, my lady, these old bones are not used to this much excitement anymore, and I would rather not think about how tasty of a snack I would make to the animals out there!"

Elsa laughed and led Erik back to the entrance hall of the castle, and from there to the kitchens to make some dinner for the two of them. Listening all the while to his outrageous stories about what he had gotten up to in his youth even though she knew just how exaggerated some of those stories were, having witnessed a couple. She also made a mental note to ask Marshmallow if he could quickly pop into Arendelle for a bit to inform her great-nephew that Erik would be staying with her for the next night or two.

X.x.X

The remnants of team seven stood over the bloodied, battered, and rapidly cooling corpse of what had recently been Doto Kazahana, each dealing with the news of what had happened to their blond teammate differently. Sakura's eyes looked like they were about to fall out of her head if they got any wider, and was starting to tremble. Sasuke frowned, staring at the corpse of their recent enemy and mulling over what he had just heard, trying to figure out just what he was feeling at the news of his teammates certain death.

And Kakashi was scratching the back of his head, trying to figure out the best way to explain to his cute little genin that Naruto almost certainly _wasn't_ dead, and just how and why exactly he knew that little fact.

**X.x.X.x.X.x.X**

**(A.N)**

**Hello world!**

**So, this is my very first story I have written, and I hope it will be up to par! I have not tried my hand at writing before, but I HAVE been lurking around for a looong time now (roughly 7 to 8 years if I remember correctly) and I hope to be able to avoid most of the common newbie mistakes**

**I want to keep this short and sweet, so I interfere with the word count as little as possible, so check out my profile if you want to read my full authors note, in which I explain a couple of things!**


	2. Where a group leaves a fortress

"Okay kiddies, time to go. We still have a princess to find"

Kakashi was stepping over Doto's corpse before he had even finished his sentence. Sakura and Sasuke's heads snapped in his direction, not understanding how he could still be so cool and collected after the bomb that had been dropped. What happened to 'those who abandoned their teammates are lower than trash'? Sasuke was the first to react, jumping into motion to make sure that he would not be left behind followed shortly by his last remaining teammate as Sakura didn't want to either.

At first glance Kakashi seemed to be the same as always. Calm, cool, collected and even slightly bored. Sasuke however was an Uchiha, and a very intelligent one at that, and managed to pick out the slight tenseness of the squad leader's shoulders as well as his more aggressive than usual stride. He did not seem to be sad, or angry more like he was...

_Annoyed_? What?

Sakura was the first to break the silence. "B-but sensei... wh-what about Naruto?!"

Sasuke spared her a quick glance. She did not seem much better than when the news that Naruto had been thrown out of an airship had passed Doto's lips. Still white as a sheet, still trembling slightly, still having that same lost and scared expression.

Sasuke himself felt... surprisingly hollow, actually. As if he was not sure how to feel about the news of his teammates and best-by-default friend. A feeling he was actually quite familiar with, it was a lot like the feeling after the mass-

Oh. Denial. Right, he had almost forgotten how this felt.

"Don't worry Sakura, im sure Naruto is doing juuuust fine, he's a resourceful kid."

Sakura blinked owlishly in surprise. Sasuke didn't blame her, it sounded like Kakashi thought Naruto was still alive. Was he in denial too? They were all violently broken out of their musings when an unfamiliar voice made itself known.

"Oi! You're not authorized to be here! Don't make any sudden movements!"

The party froze for a moment before looking down the corridor at a guard that had just walked out of a neighboring room at the end of the hallway. Sasuke slowly started moving his left hand, which was hidden from the guards sight by Kakashi's lanky form towards his weapon pouch.

Until said cover suddenly and with no warning flickered out of existence, only to reappear directly in front of the hapless guard. Covering almost thirty meters in less a blink of an eye, Kakashi shoved a kunai into his target's windpipe, angling it upwards so it would slide underneath his jaw and sever his spinal column in one strike. Then yanking it sideways, slicing through muscle and bone and almost beheading the guard in a single strike.

Sasuke froze for the second time today, eyes wide at the brutal execution which had taken less time than it had for the body to crumple to the floor. Out of the corner of his eye he could faintly see Sakura go a very interesting green color. Kakashi slowly turned around, and Sasuke's absently noted that he had somehow avoided getting any blood on his uniform, which was quite frankly amazing given how much of the metallic red liquid was now on the floor.

Yes, he had seen people killed before, he had participated in killing someone not half an hour ago, but nothing so _brutal_, so uncaring of human life. No, some small part of his consciousness remembered, he had seen it before. When the road to his home had turned into a soggy mess due to the blood soaking it, and the corpses of his relatives everywhere he turned.

Closing his eyes, Sasuke started walking towards Kakashi while regaining control of his breathing. He thought he was over this. Over these pathetic displays of weakness, but the slaughter, for that was what he had just witnessed, had brought all of the carefully filed and ordered memories to the forefront once again, and each as vivid as the day he got them.

Just keep walking. Keep your body and mind occupied. Don't think about it. Take a breath. Step. Hold. Step. Release. Step. And repeat.

By the time he had reached the body of the guard, Sasuke was once again in full control of his mind, the old mental exercise helping to push back the memories again. Opening his eyes, he noticed Kakashi was waiting for him and Sakura at the bend to the next corridor, giving them time to deal with what they had just seen.

Sakura joined them a few minutes later she gave them a shaky smile. The ending of the poor guard obviously having shaken her up as much as it had Sasuke, but with no coping method it had taken her longer to get over it. The pause next to the body had been especially telling.

Kakashi just nodded at them and crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall, the very picture of bored calmness, before speaking up

"Now I know that you guys are wondering about what happened to Naruto, and why exactly I seem so unconcerned. I will explain in more detail once we are out of this place with the princess, but for now I'll put your worries to rest. Naruto has always been a bit of a special case, so much so that should something like his death happen, a special signal would be released which all ANBU, elite jonin and other selected individuals would pick up on. Such signal has not been triggered, so Naruto is still alive. If he were in mortal danger he would have died days ago, especially in an environment as cold and harsh as here, so therefore he must be safe and probably looking for us as we speak. Understand?"

Sasuke and his only female teammate nodded slowly, both wondering just how the dead last was so special to have a signal like that go off. Sure they knew how close he was to the Hokage, but that could not be it alone. Not even Asuma-sensei who was the Hokage's only son had such precautions to their knowledge.

Seeing his students understand what he was saying Kakashi pushed off the wall and started walking through the maze that was this fortress, glancing over his shoulder as he dropped one more nugget of advice

"C'mon brats, wouldn't want to get lost in here and we still have a princess to rescue before you get to find out the full story"

Reward was the best way to motivate kids after all.

X.x.X.x.X

Naruto slowly opened his eyes, the morning sunlight streaming through the windows lighting up the chamber he was in as it bounced and reflected off of the many icy surfaces. The sunlight made the chamber glow and sparkle a thousand different shades of blue which would normally force an observer to stop and marvel at its beauty, but now only annoyed the only occupant of the room. He wanted to sleep damn it!

Well, there was no use trying to sleep now, with the way the whole place was lit up like the Hokage monument at the New Year's festival. Naruto slowly started to sit up, and couldn't help but start grinning like a loon when he didn't feel like his chest would spontaneously combust. For all the baggage the damned fox forced on him, it was damn good at its job when he needed it.

Pushing away the thick fur blankets ended up being a lot harder than he thought, due to being far too warm in the chilly room. Guess the ice had the side effect of making the whole place feel like a fridge. Although that brought up the question of who the hell still used those blankets made from actual fur anyways?

Finally summoning the willpower to face the cold morning, Naruto got his first good look at what he was wearing. His amazing orange and blue jacket, slightly less amazing but still pretty cool yellow cloak and the rest of the outfit had been replaced with a simple tunic that was a shade of blue so light it was almost white , and a cream pair of cloth pants that went down to his ankles. All in all a very boring ensemble in his expert opinion, but at least better than those terrible hospital gowns back in Konoha. Naruto groaned as he realized that his favorite orange jacket was probably an irreversible odd shade of red now. Considering the amount of blood he vaguely remembered pouring out of his hand after his ulna decided to exit his body via his wrist when he tried to break his fall by elbowing water, he was lucky to still be able to worry about his jacket.

Making a mental note to _never_ try to do that again, Naruto swung his legs over the side of the bed, just as he heard a voice right outside the door

"Im telling you Erik, the chances of him being able to answer any of your questions is probably as close to zero as possible. You saw how what kind of state he was in last night; do you really think he will be lucid enough to answer anything? Hell, I'd be surprised if he even woke up today."

"Never the less My Lady, I must at least attempt! Never before have I seen healing happen at such a rate, it would be criminal to not even try to have a chat with the boy about his origins!"

Before Naruto could react the double doors opposite his bed opened. The small shinobi part of him was impressed at how smooth and noiseless the action was, although if that were the skill of the opener or the architect was debateable.

Both parties froze as they took in the sight of the other. Naruto could only blink in surprise at the two most different people he could imagine. The one on the left was old, probably as old as the third before he passed away. He was neither short nor tall, probably standing at an extremely average 178 to 180 centimeters if Naruto had to hazard a guess. At his side he held a simple looking cane, and his clothes looked neither expensive, nor particularly cheap. The man's long, looong white beard made up for his averageness in the other areas however. Coming down to his stomach, it was braided and had what seemed to be wooden charms of some sort scattered throughout. It made the man look both mystical, and hilarious in equal measure.

On the old man's right, was a tall woman, who looked as if she could be around Kakashi-sensei's age. She was stunningly beautiful, with long platinum blond, almost white, hair which was braided and came down to just below her shoulder blades. She wore a long blue-white off-the-shoulder dress with wrist-length white sleeves. Behind her was something that looked like a cross between a cloak and a cape, which seemed to be mostly transparent but glittered with what at first looked to be hundreds of tiny gems which with a closer inspection turned out to be tiny crystals of ice. A knee-high slit in the dress allowed for more maneuverability, and the whole outfit being finished with a pair of heels that were a shade of light blue/green.

The most noticeable and attention grabbing thing by far however, was the woman's aura. While the man gave off a feeling of a little bit of mysticism, and a lot of ridiculousness, his companion's presence dwarfed his and positively oozed grace and elegance. It was the type that demanded both attention and respect from everyone in the room, no matter how important or powerful. Combined with the stern expression etched on her face, she seemed the very picture cool, calm and collected and in control.

Much like their appearances, the two's reaction to seeing Naruto almost totally out of bed were also at odds with each other. The man named Erik, judging by the snippet of conversation he heard, stood there with his jaw hanging open before a rather worrying gleam entered his eyes. He started making his way over to where Naruto was sitting almost dropping his cane in excitement.

His partner simply blinked in surprise, before raising an eyebrow and breaking into an amused smirk, never losing her composure for a second.

"My word! This is simply astounding! Your injuries should have kept any normal boy bedridden for weeks!"

Finally reaching Naruto's side the old man began poking and prodding with his long, boney fingers.

"Oi! Stop tha- Gah! Hey! What ar- ow! Stop that!"

Sure he may have been healed, but Naruto was still very tender in a few spots and that crazy old man's prodding _hurt _damn it! Layered on top of his exceedingly uncomfortable situation was his confusion as well. This was definitely a new experience and nothing at all how he was used to being treated while healing.

A laugh seemed to freeze both males in the room, one attempting to get Naruto to sit still, and Naruto trying to squirm away from said man.

"Leave him be for now Erik. I'm sure that you will have plenty of time to ask all your questions once our guest has made himself comfortable, but for now I'm sure he has many questions. I know both Igne and I have questions for him."

Naruto gulped slightly at that last sentence, although he never took his eyes off of the batty old man he started sweating lightly. The wording of the woman gave him the feeling he was about to be interrogated, had he been captured by _another_ group of bad guys? He had only just escaped the first ones for crying out loud!

"Very well, my lady, although may I ask permission to be here during the introductions?"

"I would think it best if you weren't Erik, He probably doesn't want too many people around for the story, especially when the first thing he experienced was your poking and prodding."

"But my lady, the information this boy has could forever change the field of medicine! If we could find and harness-"

"Erik." The woman cut him off mid-sentence "I would think it best if you were to leave us alone for a moment."

The old man hesitated for a moment, and Naruto thought he would object again, but then he stiffly bowed.

"As you wish, my lady"

Naruto kept a cautious eye on the retreating figure of the strange old man until the doors closed behind him, before finally turning his attention to the now only other occupant of the room.

Smiling when she noticed she finally had Naruto's attention, the woman slowly raised her hands in the universal 'I mean no harm' gesture to try and get him to relax slightly

"First of all, do you understand what we are saying young man?"

Naruto blinked, running through a few possible options before sighing. Playing dum wouldn't help anyone right now.

"Yea, I can understand you. Although im still not sure who you are, or where I am."

"Ahh, excellent. That will speed things up quite a bit. I suppose we will both be here for a while. So do you mind if I get comfortable before we start?"

She seemed to take Naruto's confused silence as a 'yes', as a couple seconds later a chair made of ice seemed to _grow_ out of the floor. Naruto blinked in surprise at that small action. Yup, definitely a relative of Haku's, looks like they weren't all dead after all. Also explained just who this place probably belonged to, he supposed.

Now that he thought about it, if this whole place was created by this one woman she would probably wipe the floor with him as easily as Kakashi-sensei always did. To create and maintain anything which could casually contain a room of this size would require an enormous amount of chakra, and being able to manipulate the existing ice _without handselas?_

Naruto decided that it was propably a very good idea to not annoy this woman like he did so many others. Sure he would mess around with Baa-chan, but at least she wouldn't do any lasting harm. This woman was a complete unknown, she could even be part of those Akastuki guys Jiraya had talked about for all he knew!

Naruto finally snapped out of his thought process when he realized the woman had seated herself and was looking at him expectedly, as f expecting an answer to something.

Goddamn it, he had _just_ resolved to do everything in his power to not piss her off, and he totally missed he first question!

"Uhhh... Could you repeat that maybe? I was kinda not listening..."

The amused half smile reappeared on her face along with a slightly raised eyebrow. At least she found it funny, and not rude of something

"I asked if you had a name."

"Oh! Well I'm Uzumaki Naruto! Konoha Genin extraordinaire and future Hokage at your service!"

The still-unnamed woman gained an interested expression, and leaned forward slightly at the mention of Konoha and the future Hokage part.

Damn, he shouldn't have said that. He should _not _have said that. This was the _exact_ reason Kakshi-sensei kept going over possible aliases and back stories

"What's a Hokage?"

The room became so silent Naruto swore he hear the air slowly circulate the air

"You have got to be shitting me. What do you mean, 'what's a Hokage'? How do you not know what the Hokage is? Everyone knows who the Hokage is! Just where the hell am I?!"

Looks like the plan to keep calm and not antagonize the probably super-powerful woman just flew out the window. How the hell does someone not know about one of the most powerful and influential positions in the world?

The woman just sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Well, let's start again, shall we? My name is Elsa Isenvokte and I am the ex-queen of the nation known as Arendelle"

Naruto slowly felt his blood start draining from his face. Ex-_queen?_ _Ex_-queen?! He just shouted at a queen of a freaking country?! And how did she become an _ex_-queen? Naruto might not have known too much about politics, but things like being royalty were generally not temporary arrangements. And how was someone that young an ex-anything?

And where the fuck was Arendelle?!

Naruto had a bad, bad feeling about all this.

x.X.x.X.x.

Kakashi glanced at the moon and stars, trying to determine the time. He had finally managed to get his students and the princess out of the massive fortress, although it had taken much longer than what he had originally planned. Looking behind him he noticed Sakura and Sasuke trudging through the almost knee-high snow supporting princess Koyuki who was exhausted.

Although on could not see it due to his mask, Kakashi was proud of his students. They had dealt with the news of Naruto well, and combined with the handful of brutal executions they had witnessed during their escape they seemed to be remarkably composed. It seems that they, Sakura especially, had more mental fortitude than he had originally thought.

Truthfully, Kakashi had dealt with the first guard so brutally because in his annoyance at the whole situation he had forgotten that his students were not the battle hardened assassins he was used to dealing with. Only when he turned around and noticed their blank expressions had he remembered, and mentally kicked himself.

Then he had an idea.

Watching how they coped with what they had seen, and thinking about what he had just learned about Naruto's fate he decided to give them a test of sorts. Inflict a bunch of mental trauma, and see how and if they would cope.

If one of them failed, he would simply knock them out and wake them up once they were out of the fortress, seeing if they had what it took to live in the shinobi world. If they passed, which they did, then it meant that they were slowly coming to grips with how the world of ninja operated. The chunin exams would have given them a brief insight to just how unforgiving the profession was, and this should have placed the final nail in the coffin, so to speak.

Either they would wizen up, and start taking their profession seriously, with never-ending training and constant vigilance.

Or they would die. Probably in the brutal and unexpected manner those guards had.

He had made a promise however, that he would tell them about Naruto's 'situation' once they were safely out of the fortress. No sense in delaying it.

"Alright kiddos, this should be far enough. Time to set up camp!"

His announcement was met with three groans of relief, trudging through knee-high snow for miles was _exhausting_

Kakashi just had to laugh a bit, walking on top of the layers of snow as if it were solid rock. Chakra was such a fantastic resource. A few minutes later there was a trio of tents, camouflaged against the surrounding snow in true ninja fashion, being almost invisible from a distance. There was no campfire as they were still not totally in the clear, Doto's ninja forces would not be pleased with their employers death after all.

Princess Koyuki was the first one to voice what was almost definitely on most of the party's minds.

"Uhhhh.. Kakashi-san, there are only three tents..."

Taking his nose out of his book, Kakashi made a show of looking around himself in a large circle

"Well what do you know, looks like you are right!"

Silence.

"Well I guess someone is gonna have to bunk up then!" he continued after enjoying the silence for a little bit.

Even more silence, although with some very amusing facial expressions this time.

Just before one of them could shout in indignation Kakshi spoke up again, this time with an overly-exaggerated resigned tone

"Yeesh, can't even take a joke nowadays. My students and I will take turns with watch, so there will always be one person awake."

Kakashi could not resist smiling a bit at their releaved expressions, though he could tell Sasuke and Sakura were not looking forward to standing in the cold, waiting to wake up the next person.

"Sasuke will take first watch, but first of all you two come with me. Koyuki-san, please retire to your tent and go to sleep, we have a ways to go tomorrow and there is something I wish to discuss with my students privately"

"It's about Naruto, isn't it?"

Hmmm. Surprisingly astute, although his absence was rather obvious. Giving a short nod, Kakashi was not surprised with her next question either.

"Is he... is he dead?"

"No, we sent him on ahead to the capitol to make preperations to keep you safe until this whole thing blows over. Sneaking is not his strong suit as you might have guessed."

A blatant lie, but she didn't know that. And considering how much that statement made her relax, suddenly looking a lot less exhausted she was probably blaming herself about his 'death'.

Waiting until he saw her climb into her tent, Kakashi gave a brief signal to his students to follow him as he walked a bit into the forest, until he was safely out of hearing range of the camp.

"You two may want to sit down. I'm sure you have lots of questions, so this will probably take a little while. All I ask you is to keep your questions until I am done speaking."

Seeing them nod and sit down on two conveniently placed tree stumps Kakashi began his story

"What I am about to tell you is considered a state secret, and although many people already know, you will be the first and only ones of your generation to know this."

Seeing Sakura's question in her eyes, Kakashi decided to nip that problem in the bud

"Once you know the secret, you have to _keep _that secret. The punishment for breaking the law about this is the same as with any secret which may have severe repercussions against Konoha. Worst case scenario: Death."

Both of his students seemed to freeze in place. They had apparently underestimated how big of a deal Naruto was to the village.

"Now know this, due to the current circumstances my revealing of the secret most likely won't result in my execution, but make no mistake, there will be a punishment. And if you break the law... well, the Hokage will be a lot less forgiving I feel."

"What do you mean, _most likely_?!" Sasuke blurted out

"What did I say about the questions? And by most likely, I mean most likely. The Hokage _could_ order my death because of what I'm about to tell you"

Sasuke stared back at him wide eyed, Sakura was doing a good impression a ghost fish. Good. Looks like he managed to convey just how serious this was, although he really hoped the Hokge was in a good mood. He rather liked living.

"Now, almost thirteen years ago, a natural disaster hit Konoha. Unlike the droughts or floods of other countries, this natural disaster took the form of the Kyūbi no Yōko. I am going to assume that you know all of this, as both of your parents took part in the battle to hold it off until the fourth could come and defeat it."

At Sakura and Sasuke's nods Kakashi continued

"The reason the fourth could not come straight away is an even greater secret than what im about to tell you. Even I do not know for sure, only Sarutobi Hiruzen could tell you exactly considering that it had something to do with his wife's death, but unfortunately he is no longer with us, so we can only assume.

Now, the fourth was a great shinobi. Part of what made him so great was his intelligence and his cunning. Because of this intelligence he knew his limitations, and knew that normally he would be no match for a being such as the Kyūbi. He had to even the playing field, and to do that he called upon and made a pact with one of the only things capable of surpassing the Kyūbi, The god of death himself. Through some immensely powerful sealing techniques the fourth managed to form a contract with the god of death.

He gave up his soul to split the Kyūbi into two separate entities; one which would be sealed into himself to be taken with him when he died moments later, and the other was sealed into a newborn child whose chakra coils had not fully developed yet. This would allow the body to contain the massive influx of chakra, and whoever learned to control that power inside of them would become possibly the most powerful shinobi in the world, cementing Konoha's position as the strongest village for as long as he would live.

That child, that container who could become the most powerful shinobi in the world, is Naruto."

Kakashi fought the urge to pat himself on the back; he always thought he had a flair for the dramatic, and right now the expressions of his cute little students were hilarious. Its like their little brains had just exploded and they were trying to pick up the pieces.

"Now, the reason I know Naruto is not dead is twofold. The story I told you about before, the signal, was a lie. Well, more like a half-truth. You see, first of all the half of the Kyūbi which was sealed inside Naruto is very much sentient and would like to continue to be that way. If Naruto dies the piece would be released into the world, but something with half a soul cannot survive.

This means that it would be unable to sustain itself and its consciousness would disperse, effectively killing it. The Kyūbi wants to live just like any other thing alive, which means that it has to keep Naruto alive. This is the cause of Naruto's amazing regenerative abilities, it's the Kyūbi making sure its host stays unharmed enough for it to survive, and a fall would not be enough to put down something of that power.

Secondly, the part which makes me even more certain Naruto is alive, is that as a said earlier the death of naruto would rupture the seal which would force the Kyūbi out into the world where it would then begin to degrade. That amount of demonic chakra exploding outwards in a fraction of a second would be noticeable by anyone with an ounce of chakra sensing ability for hundreds of kilometers.

The area Doto said he 'droppped' Naruto was not very far away from us at that time, so if Naruto died and the Kyūbi fraction was released I would have noticed it. Hell, you probably would have as well. Demonic chakra is like nothing else I have ever encountered, and because of that sticks out like a Kumo-nin in Iwa.

Now, any questions?"

Sakura and Sasuke just continued staring at him speechless, he could practically _hear_ the little cogs and gears in their heads spin. When it seemed no questions were coming, Kakashi pushed himself off of the tree he was leaning against and started walking back to the camp.

"Sasuke, don't forget you have first watch, Sakura you have second so make sure you try and get some sleep. I'll take last watch as always. I know this was a lot to take in, but I hope you won't treat Naruto any differently when we finally meet up again."

Nodding dumbly, the two genin slowly got to their feet and followed their teacher. Looks like they at least had something to mull over during their watches.

**X.x.X.x.X**

**Aaaand that's chapter 2 done!**

**Chapter 3 will include Elsa answering a couple of questions, the reunion of team seven, and the wrap up of Snow. As you might guess the situation of Snow will be quite different because the spring generator-mirror-things were never activated due to naruto being tossed out an airship.**

**For the full authors note check out my profile!**


	3. revelations during watches

Naruto hummed thoughtfully as he examined the morsel of food speared by the strange eating device that Elsa had called a 'fork' before it disappeared into his mouth. Taking a moment to savor the taste he shrugged. It was not too bad, but he would have preferred ramen, nothing beat some well-made ramen after all.

At the other end of the table, which seemed to be made of never freezing just like everything else in the castle, Elsa watched as after the first experimental bite the modest meal she had made disappeared into the child in front of her. Her amusement was quickly replaced by a small frown as she mulled over what she had learned in the small amount of time they had talked. The game of twenty questions had been interrupted not long after it had started by Naruto's stomach loudly reminding them that it had not had anything for almost three days.

Logically, Elsa knew that Arendelle was a small country. While the kingdom covered a moderate amount of land, only a small portion of that land was fit to be lived on. Most of the country was covered in snowcapped mountains or dense forest. These conditions meant that they only had one major city, which was the port city of Arandelle. This in turn meant that the city was rather hard to find unless one knew exactly where they were going.

These factors meant that she should not have been surprised that her country was a virtual unknown. Elsa always knew that in the Arandelle was looked over by most of the major powers, but to _not even be on their map_ was a depressing notion

It was almost insulting.

What was more worrying however, was that the possibility that the only reason they were such a peaceful kingdom was because the major nations didn't know they existed. That meant that should another nation learn of them, it was all too possible that they would decide that Arandellian goods were better off in their borders than in some little inconsequential nation.

There was no way the small National Guard would be able to fight off an actual experienced, large fighting force. Especially if they had a few hundred of these shinobi on their side.

One thing was clear then, Arandelle needed allies, and powerful ones too. Elsa looked back at the boy in front of her, almost done with the lunch-dinner she had prepared. If what he said was true, about his nation of the land of fire being one of the most influential countries with the most powerful shinobi village she had a golden opportunity.

A plan started forming in Elsa's mind. One did not stay a member of the court without learning how to scheme. She would have to talk with her grand-nephew, but she was sure he would agree with her plan. If she played her cards right she could gain a very powerful ally, and with powerful allies came good trade after all.

Naruto froze mid-chew, then looked at the door leading to the dining chamber, which opened seconds later to reveal Erik. That was some impressive hearing he had, which made Elsa even more curious as to what a shinobi could do, and what kind of training they had to go through.

The moment Erik noticed the other guest, he seemed to brighten considerably, and shuffled over to examine Naruto once again, but not before giving his plate a curious look.

"My boy! Here you are! I was just looking for you, but your chamber was empty so I thought that maybe you were down here!"

Elsa could not help but smile at Erik's excited tone. One would not guess it, but he was normally very reserved. He always enjoyed a good mystery though, and she was sure that Naruto was possibly the most mysterious thing he had ever encountered.

x.X.x

"It seems I was just in time too, judging by your empty plate, so would you care to answer a few questions? Nothing too difficult, don't worry, just some questions about your body's remarkable regeneration and composition."

Naruto was distinctly uncomfortable with the old man's intensity, but after a quick glance at Elsa and seeing her amusement decided that he was harmless. He supposed he could try to humor the cheerful old man.

"Uhhh... I can try I guess, but I don't know how much help I'll be."

"Excellent! Fantastic! Wonderful even! Now, first things first, how are you feeling? Any lingering soreness? Do you have full control over all your limbs once again? I see you are already able to consume solids again at any rate."

Naruto blinked a few times, trying to keep up with the surprisingly energetic healer.

"Well, I _feel_ just fine. Didn't have any problems walking over here, so I guess I do? And yea, was I not supposed to eat or something? Because I was _really_ hungry"

"No no, that's fine, although I would have recommended starting with some light soup or other liquid, before going straight for a full meal, but no matter! Now for the true question, just how were you able to heal so quickly? I have been thinking and thinking and thinking, but cannot come up with a single plausible theory!"

Naruto froze for a moment, cursing himself. Of course they would want to know that! The Kyuubi's healing went against pretty much every medical law known! But at least he already had an excuse for this situation.

"Uhh, im sorry but I can't really tell you."

Seeing the old man, (Erik?) suddenly lose a lot of his previous energy, Naruto shrugged.

"Its not that I don't want to tell you, or that I'm not allowed to tell you, its just I don't actually know. I've always healed like this, the doctors back home think it was something to do with my genetics, an old bloodline limit or so that had been thought to be lost."

Naruto looked between Erik and Elsa, hoping they hadn't noticed his small pause. Erik looked rather disappointed but still eager. Elsa on the other hand was looking at him with a strange look.

Crap, she suspected something.

Looking back to Erik, who was about to ask another question Naruto missed the small shrug Elsa did, dismissing the odd hesitation he had shown. He did not miss her question though.

"What do you mean, 'an old bloodline limit'?"

Looking back to Elsa Naruto was surprised; he didn't think they would catch on to that.

"Oh, well that's not too hard to answer. Bloodline limits are special abilities that are passed down through shinobi families, usually allowing them to do stuff no one else can. Those with the strongest abilities usually form entire clans to try and cultivate these abilities."

This time it was Erik who asked the question.

"And these 'bloodline limits' allow things like your healing? I would think an ability that powerful would result in a massive clan!"

Naruto just laughed at Erik's amazement

"Nah, its not actually all that special compared to some of the other things that people can do"

This statement was met with skeptical looks from the two, and another question

"If your healing is nothing special, then what are the others?! How on earth do they work?"

Naruto had to mull that one over for a few seconds, not realizing it was a rhetorical question, then decided to just parrot one of Iruka's academy lessons.

"Well, there are three types of limits." He started, drawing both Elsa's and Erik's attention back to him, surprised they were apparently getting an answer.

"The three are Body limits, Mind limits and Chakra limits. Body limits are bloodline limits that affect the users body. My healing would be an example, as well as the Aburame's body hives."

two different eyebrows rose at the term 'body hives' but there were no follow up questions

"Mind limits are limits that affect the brain, and things intrinsically connected to it, such as hearing and sight. The most common Mind limits have to do with the eyes, giving people the ability to see things others can't. Examples being the Hyuuga clan whose eyes allow them to see through walls and in a full sphere, so they can literally have eyes in the back of their skull. The Uchiha were considered to be one of the strongest Mind limit holders before they were betrayed and massacred. Their sharingan gave them eidetic memories, as well as giving them a limited ability to see into the immediate future, allowing them to know what moves their opponent were going to make before they did."

At hearing this Elsa's eyes were so wide that they looked like they would fall out of their sockets, and Erik was openly gaping at Nartuo, who was oblivious to all this as he stared at his plate, trying to remember what else Iruka had said.

"The hearing example of Mind limits would probably be the Inuzukas, who are able to talk to and understand canines, including wolves. This allows them to form partnerships with them and are able to fight alongside them, although the side effect of this is that they are more in-tune with their animistic sides than most others."

His two audience members had seemingly gotten over their initial shock at hearing about these outlandish abilities. Compared to foresight, talking with dogs seemed almost tame.

"Lastly, there are the Chakra limits. These allow the combination of two, very rarely three, of the five chakra elements to create a brand new one. Examples being combining earth and water elements to create and control trees and other plants, as well as the extremely powerful dust release, which combines earth, wind and fire which has only been usable by two of the most powerful shinobi to have lived."

Erik decided to interrupt this time

"Dust release? I understand the wood one because you are controlling plants, but dust?"

Naruto laughed ominously at the question.

"Oh that's easy; it's because everything that is caught in the technique is utterly destroyed, leaving only dust behind. Trees, metal, houses, humans, it does not matter. There is nothing left. Also there is one more example I know of, which you might be interested in."

Elsa, who had gone still at the explanation of how dust release worked looked at Naruto, who stared into at her

"The combining of the water and wind elements to create ice."

Naruto had to stop himself from smiling, the room had gone so silent he could hear the insects outside. Finally it was Elsa who broke the silence to the surprise of no one.

"There... there are others who can control ice like me?"

Naruto let the silence stretch on for a few seconds longer before he sighed.

"There were, unfortunately they are all dead, I was there when the last member of the clan died."

Elsa looked down at her hands, folded in her lap. For some reason she was not surprised at that little piece of news

"Why did they all die? What happened to them?"

Surprisingly, it was not Naruto who answered her, it was Erik

"Fear, m'lady. If I guess correctly, they were too powerful. Just like how he said the clan with the power to see the future was betrayed. If a group of people become too powerful, especially if they are different from what people would consider 'normal', they will become feared, and as you know fear breeds hatred. Am I wrong?"

His question was directed at Naruto who just shrugged. Hell if he knew, the only reason he knew they were all dead was Haku had said he was the last anyways.

"One last question though, my boy. You said that your healing would probably be classed as a Body type limit, but you also have some strange eyes there. Do you also have a Mind limit?"

For the first time in the conversation it was Naruto who was confused. Weird eyes? He had the same color eyes as Elsa did, didn't he? Sure they were a bit darker blue, but not enough to be classified as weird...

When he asked Erik those questions, all he got was a confused look from both him and Elsa, before with a gesture Elsa made a small piece of ice rise from the table. Looking at the small reflective piece of ice Naruto got his first good look at his face since he had been thrown out of the airship.

At first Naruto did not comprehend what he was seeing, the insides of his irises were a familiar blue, but as they got further away from his pupils they became an odd purple, then became red. His normally once pure blue eyes were now at least half red.

Blood red.

_Kyuubi red._

Suddenly Naruto found it hard to breath. His lungs only collecting air in small pants, then almost not at all. He could feel his limbs start to shake, but his eyes were still locked onto those strange, alien eyes staring back at him. He could faintly hear two voices, saying something, shouting something but he could not understand what they were saying. All he could do was stare at those eyes. What were they? Those weren't his eyes!

The eyes took up his whole attention, even as he felt a pair of hands grab his shoulder, even as he felt himself fall out of his chair. They held his attention until the darkness swallowed them, along with everything else.

x.X.x.X.x

Sakura felt like she wanted to just lay down and sleep when the group of four finally stopped for their lunch break. Unfortunately they would have to start again in a half hour, so she sat down and leaned her back against a nearby tree. They had been walking since the crack of dawn, and while normally that would have been no problem for her and Sasuke the fact that it had snowed last night meant that they had to wade through snow that came almost up to their hips. She knew they were in the land of snow, but this was just ridiculous.

What made it worse was that every time she looked up she saw Kakashi-sensei walking over the top of the snow, reading and without a care in the world. She would have to find out how he managed to do that before they left. Although it could be worse she supposed, Koyuki did not have the benefit of shinobi training, and looked like all she wanted to do was lie down and not get back up again until everything stopped hurting.

As she was unwrapping her high-calorie, cardboard-tasting rations she was joined by Sasuke who sat next to her, unwrapping his own ration pack. Giving him a once over Sakura noticed he was in slightly better shape than her. This was not surprising given the fact that she was the physically weakest in their team, but it still annoyed her a bit.

They sat in silence, trying to regain as much energy as possible, and thinking about everything they had learned in the past few days. Saying it had been an emotional rollercoaster would have been an understatement. The shock and, yes, heartbreak when they had learned about Naruto's 'death', followed by the brutal murders and executions of the guards in the fortress. Both events had combined to become the final straw. Over the course of a little more than half a year of the shinobi life, Sakura's dreams on what her life would be like after the graduation had started cracking.

The Wave Catastrophe as she liked to call it had been the first crack. Seeing just how close three quarters of her team had come to death that mission, as well as seeing just how lethal some of the other shinobi could be had shaken her, especially after Zabuza had killed more than a dozen men with a single kunai between his teeth and no arms.

The chuunin exams showed her that there were true monsters in the world, even if they hid in human form, and that she was nowhere near as strong as her teammates. Garaa and Orochimaru still appeared in some of her darker dreams and nightmares.

The invasion allowed her to see that nowhere was truly safe. She had thought that Konoha was impenetrable and undefeatable. No one would dare to attack the greatest of all the villages! That belief had come crashing down along with the wall under the three headed snake summon and scores of sound and sand shinobi.

And now this.

It was clear now.

Either she would step it up; she would become more powerful, one of the best.

Or she would die like one of those guards, either on a mission or when Konoha was attacked again.

This was the realization she had come to last night during her watch.

x.X.x

Sasuke gazed up at the snow covered branches above him.

Sakura was beside him, not saying a word, staring at the snow around them. Perhaps she was too exhausted to say anything, Kami knew Sasuke was quickly approaching that point. Whatever it was, he was glad she was silent. He was in no mood to listen to her going on and on about nothing and if she asked him on another date he would probably break something.

With Sakura silent, Sasuke was allowed to reflect on what he had learned.

Naruto, the 'dead last', the class idiot, the never-give-up optimist.

His brother.

Yes, Sasuke supposed, Naruto was the closest thing he had to family. The friendly contests they had, constantly trying to one up each other. The insults thrown back and forth with no venom, just camaraderie. The shared pain of being alone, only being able to rely on themselves. The desire to achieve their goals, no matter the cost.

Looking back, Sasuke realized that Naruto was more of a brother than Itachi had ever been. Itachi had been the role model, the pinnacle of excellence, the idol that all Uchiha children should strive to become. He had been more a presence and shadow, then a true brother. He had never had a competition with Itachi, as he was always so much better at everything. He had never been able to share his dreams with Itachi, because he was always so condescending in his perfection.

And now he knew that Naruto, his true brother, had the potential to be the strongest shinobi in their day and age. The power of the Kyuubi, even _half_ the Kyuubi would be enough to shake the very foundations of the world itself. What was Itachi's mangekyou compared to that power?

And that power belonged to the one person Sasuke trusted enough to help him become strong, become strong enough to fulfill all his ambitions.

Either his brother by bonds would help him become strong enough to kill his brother by blood, or Sasuke would fail in his ambitions, because if the kyuubi's power was not enough to overcome his brother, nothing would be.

This is the realization he had come to last night during his watch.

x.X.x

Kakashi sat on the highest branch of the tallest tree in the area.

From here he could see two of his students, leaning against the trunk of a tree they seemed to be silent.

Two of his students, not three.

He knew he had failed his third student. He had failed all of them in fact, but especially Naruto. He was their teacher, their guide to the shinobi life. It was his responsibility that they reach their full potential.

And so far he had been shirking that responsibility.

He had taught them, yes. He taught the values of teamwork, a few techniques here and there. He had trained their bodies and minds with exercises and regimens.

He had taught, but he had not guided.

And now, one was missing, would have died if he had not been so unique.

One was about to be lost to his own darkness, a black pit which he would most likely never rise out of, seeking vengeance in a self-destructive spiral of hate and anger.

And the last was riddled with self-confidence issues, always thinking that she was not good enough. She had some of the best chakra control he had ever seen, had the opportunity to become one of the greatest shinobi of their day and age just like the other two, but was obsessed with trying to look pretty and catch the attention of boys, never wanting to reach her potential.

He had failed them, and it took such extreme circumstances to finally realize that. He had to break a state secret, one punishable by death if the Hokage so desired. Some would even say that doing so was committing treason. All because he was too lazy to actually give it his all, too confident that it would all work out in the end.

What would Obito, Rin and Minato say if they saw him now? What would his father have said if he knew his son would fail this badly?

He had failed his teams, both past and present. And if he wanted to fix things he would need to act now, with every fiber of his being. And hope he was not too late.

This is the realization he had come to last night during his watch.

X.x.X.x.X

Elsa stood outside her youngest guest's room.

Not long after the young boy had started hyperventilating from what they assumed was seeing his eyes he had fainted. Thankfully his breathing went back to normal after he blacked out, and they placed him back in his bead

Erik said it was a normal panic attack, nothing to get too worried about. Possibly because the trauma of this whole experience was finally catching up with him, and something about his eyes had been the last crack which made the dam burst.

Even with the old man's reassurances Elsa refused to leave, during his conversation about these bloodline limits she had realized something.

Arandelle's way of life was in danger.

They had built the city and been living on borrowed time, what did they have? Their army consisted of less than 800 trained men. They were disciplined and made strong by the harsh weather they endured, their training was top notch.

But they were just men, men who had never seen a true battle or fought in an actual war.

The shinobi across the mountains would crush them beneath their heels like bugs if they so desired. They were killers forged by war and death, with powers over the elements. All of them, not just ice. And some seemed to have traits that should only belong in legend.

Fifty trained shinobi could bring Arandelle to its knees

A hundred would be able to burn the country to the ground, leaving only ashes.

And each major village had shinobi measuring in the hundreds.

The only way to survive was to adapt, they could no longer survive on borrowed time, because sooner or later they will have to pay their debts. They needed allies, strong ones who would deter those countries who wanted riches for little cost.

And Naruto was the key. Through him she could contact the strongest of the strongholds, she could find those allies Arandelle needed. This was her duty, as a member of the royal family, she had to do all in her power to protect her home.

Either she would succeed and Arandelle would flourish, or fail and watch it be burnt to the ground

This is the realization she had come to that afternoon during her watch in front of the room.

x.X.x.X.x

It lay with his eyes closed

It knew what its surroundings looked like; it had been watching them for more than a decade after all. He knew every bend in the pipes and every crack on the tiles

It lay there, in the only dry patch to be seen, waiting for the confrontation it knew was going to happen. The confrontation it had been waiting for for years.

Once it had been proud, once it had been free. Then it was trapped, first by one, then by another, and now the third

It had been trapped and beaten, but it was not broken. It had examined its bindings, and knew there was no way out.

No way out except for one

So it had waited, and it had planned. It had planned for years, because it enjoyed living. It enjoyed breathing and running and fighting and _killing_.

And now? It could think and move and act, but this was not living. This was merely existing. And existing was not enough.

So it planned it's escape, to break this hellish prison. All that was needed was a powerful soul. Not even a full soul, just half of one.

After all, what was meant to contain half would not be able to contain a whole, the prison would rupture, and it would be free once again. Free to live, not exist.

This is the realization that it had over the years during its watch.

There was no either. No buts and ors

It would be free. And that was final.

And with this thought it opened its eyes too look at the small creature that decided to intrude.

The small creature with blond hair and blue-red eyes in the middle of a drab grey-green sewer standing on the other side of the golden cage.

**X.x.X.x.X**

**And that's chapter 3!**

**And yea, I said that this chapter would be the end of the snow arc, with the reunion of team seven**

**I lied :c**

**Check the profile for the AN as always!**


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